A Brief Primer to Indian English Poetry from Classical to Post-Modernist Writers

Fasil Barkat Dar Ph.D. Scholar, English

ABSTRACT: Indian English poetry has not always been the same what we see today, it has been a very cumbersome journey for it to reach the present status. Indian English poetry emerged as a result of contact with different foreign cultures and with the passage of time it developed as an independent variety of English literature. The contribution of Indian writers introduced Indian culture its ethos and mythos to the West. The present paper is an attempt to give a brief introduction of Indian English Poetry from the classical times to the present.

Keywords: Indian English Poetry, culture, ethos, mythos, classical.

I.INTRODUCTION: WORDS OF PAST I believe in the words of past For our classical writers had a great allure The countless pillars building our base To make us quiver the Western stars

Rich in thoughts with colorful foliage The culture of Peers with Murshids to obey The golden bird came out of the cage Not mere in flesh, in thoughts and words (Fasil Barkat Dar)

There has been a migration of romantic thoughts from the West to the East, however with the passage of time these thoughts gradually began to sprout its own foliage. It is this foliage which has reached the present times of post modernism from the cumbersome journey of imitation. At the same time if Indian English poetry was influenced by the West literature it had its own treasure houses of literature under the guise of Sanskrit Literature and much more. All the Indian writers from the classical times to the present has one common inspiration and that is the source of rich Indian literature. Indian culture its ethos and mythos has been the source

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of encouragement to all those poetic genius whose contribution reserved an everlasting special place for Indian literature in the world literature.

Indian civilization has been constantly enriching its cultural ethos through an ever widening circle of immigration, migrations, and conquests by many foreign cultures and the process of assimilation and juncture in its history. With the British colonialism in India, English language made its entry thereby creating space for a new literature popularly known as Indian English Literature of which Indian English Poetry happens to be one of the first genres.

As far as the scope of research in Indian English Poetry is concerned, there could be, of course, no two opinions about its depths and ever-widening scope as it reflects the richness and diversity that Indian civilization as a multilingual and multicultural structure is known for. There are Indian poets who while writing in English directly appropriated themes from the myths and legends that Indian people know from the Vedas, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and other such sources of the Ganga-Jamuna civilization like Toru Dutt and Tagore. Similarly there are many poets who wrote under the influence of the English and the German Romantics thereby bringing home a new form and themes of appreciation for life, nature, rebellion, protest and human individuality with all of its subjectivities. In fact, one could find the Indian English Poetry as a potential site for cross-cultural references, world view and outlook; and; above all, socio-cultural transitions.

Indian English Poetry is one of the most important literary developments in the subcontinent after colonization, which apart from Indian English Novel could be cited as an outstanding source of Indian English variety rich in depiction of Indian ethos, mythos and sensibility. Indian English poetry is the oldest form of Indian English literature, which has attained both lushness and quality (Rana, 2012, p1). It represents various phases, development of our multitudinous cultural and national life right from the beginning of the nineteenthtothe mid- ninetiesof the twentieth century. Independence broughtin its wake division, a hurtful experience, the aftermath of which continues to haunt us even today. Independence brought with it displacement anddiscouragement;as a result,the post-colonial writers had to re-interpret and re-write various issues from a postcolonial perspective.

Indian English Poetry has three phases of development: “Imitative Phase, Assimilative Phase & Experimental Phase” (Jha, 2015). In the first phase, there are a number of co-developments which are responsible for generating Indian English poetry. The early innovators namely, HenryDerozio, Michael MadusudanDutt, Toru Dutt, B.M. Malahari, S.C. Dutt and R.C. Dutt-were the one who began to poeticize the Indian echoes in English language. Their writing was imitative and derivative of true English poetry;even then their efforts paved a new path for in English by writing on Indian culture, history, myths and legends. This phase is called imitative phase. The poets of 1850 to 1900 were trying to establish this part of poetry. They have followed the British Romantics and Victorian poets. Iyengar has aptly summarized the contributions of those Indians who represented Indian thoughts in English language:

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Indian in thoughts and feeling and motion and experience, yet also to court the graces and submit to the discipline of English for expression. Indian English poetry is a novel experiment in creative mutation. There are successes as well as failures and the failures are perhaps more numerous than the success. All the same there are the men and women who have bravely run the race and reached the goal and they deserve due recognition. (Iyengar, 1972, p.5)

The second phase in Indian English poetry is the assimilative phase starting from around 1900. According to Dr. Sunita Rana, the poets of this phase were:

They were compulsive nationalist seeking to project the renascent consciousness of India caught in the maelstrom of historical conflict and turmoil and change, and culminating in the attainment of political freedom in 1947, self-expression was all important to the poets of imitation self-definition, accompanied by heart-searching, probing into the cultural inheritance became the genuine concern of the poets of assimilation. The early poets were projecting landscapes, moods, fancies and dreams, while their followers sought a more radical assurance of their sense of origins and their sense of destiny. Toru Dutt and constitute a kind of watershed between these two phases, in that they share their predecessor’s individual nostalgia as well as their successor’s sense of crisis and quest of identity. Toru Dutt is the inheritor of unfulfilled renown and the saint poets like Swami Vivekananda, Swami Ramtirtha, Swami Yogananda, Sri Aurbindo and left a body of poetry which is glorious summation of Indian’s hoary cultural spiritual and methodological heritage which dates back to the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Gita. In their poetry they endeavored to nativize English language in order to make it a befitting instrument for the expression of Indian sensibility. (Rana, 2012, p.1)

The attainment of Independence knocked at the door of third phase of Indian English Poetry called the Experimental Phase. This phase was very much different form the past two phases viz Imitative and Assimilative phases in the approach which opened the door to a new phase of poetic activity among the Indian poets. Rajyalaxmi, in an interview,gives a comprehensive idea about the poets of this phase:

Our models have been neither exclusively Indian nor British, but cosmopolitan. Europe, Africa, America as well as Asia have all become a part of our cultural consciousness, offering impetus and stimulation. Our poets have been suddenly lifted from an exclusive to an extensive variety of imaginative understanding. They have been elevated from a

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conventional to a cosmopolitan culture to deal with the new-fangled outline of things with attainment of a new-fangled analysis for human fortune. Time has distorted as well as requires a new-fangled representation. This has been mostly convened by the poet. (Rana, 2012, p.1)

Change is the law of nature and Indian English Poetry is no exception to this. Since its inception, Indian English poetry has been undergoing constant change. After 1980’s, a definite change in the expression of Indian writers is very much visible. They have left to imitate the British writers directly rather they learnt to use the English language in a very effective and constructive way. This movement opened the doors for the new phase of writers called the Modern Indian English poets resembling Whitman, T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, W. B. Yeats. K. Ratna Sheila Mani makes a terse observation about the Modern Indian English poetry:

The characteristics of modern Indian poetry in English make it distinctive and different form the poetry of the earlier period. It was a bold departure from the older, Miltonic, Romantic and Victorian traditions and also rejected the older themes and forms. It is a poetry of the urban and metropolitan rather than rural Indian, and carries with it greater sophistication and complexity than the poetry of the earlier period. Poets like , R. Parthasarathy, A. K. Ramanujanum, Shiv K. Kumar, Keki N. Daruwalla, Kamala Das and have contributed towards establishing an indigenous tradition of Indian English verse. These poets have liberated themselves from the earlier tendency to set their poems in a legendary, romantic, sentimentally-conceived or colonial India and to produce generalized pictures and vision of India. Turing more and more inwards, these poets presented India landscapes which were highly personalized or focused on specific regions and communities. The new Indian poets started using the English language less formally and with greater unselfconscious ease. The use of irony and understatement is another feature common to their poetry. (Kumar & Ojha, 2005, p.188)

One of the best characteristics of the modernists is the adherence to their own principles and ethics which let them to do away with the old traditional methods. This new phase brought newness and originality to their poetry. The modern Indian poets were inspired by Eliot, Auden and Dylan Thomas. Modern poets enjoy their license to make a free use of English language deeply rooted in a sense of nearness of experience. Among modern Indian English poets, few names could be mentioned:Don Moraes, Nissim Ezekiel, P.Lal, Kamala Das, A.K.Ramanujan, Krishna Srinivas, Mahanand Sharma and others. These poets were true and original to their works which earned actuality, freshness and sensibility to their work. Nissim Ezekiel writes in this connection:

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Good poetry is not always lucid and clear. Nevertheless, the amateur poet ought to aim at clarity and lucidity concrete and relevant images are usually superior to vogue immensities, simple disciplined forms within which much freedom can be exercised, help the poet to discover what he feels more than sprawling accumulation of lines. Rhyme and other devices may be discarded only if structural compensations and very special effects are provided instead. Development within a poem is a sign of maturity in the poet. (Iyengar, 2014, p.653)

REFERENCES:

1. Rana, S. (2012). A study of Indian English Poetry. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 2(10), 1-5. Retrieved from http://www.ijsrp.org/research-paper-1012/ijsrp-p1099.pdf 2. Jha, Amaranatha. (1969). Toru Dutt Introductory Memoir, Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan. Allahabad: Kitabistan. 3. Iyengar, S. K. R. (1972). Indian Writing in English. New Delhi: Sterling Publisher Private Limited. 4. Kumar & Ojha (2005). Indian English Literature A Post-Colonial Response. New Delhi: Sarup& Sons. New Delhi.

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